Peyton Manning doesn’t plan to put a ring on it

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 11, 2014, 11:48 AM EST

AP

For a ceremony that included passing out jewelry, the Broncos were fairly understated about it.

According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post, the Broncos were presented with their AFC Championship rings Monday. Former Broncos linebacker Tom Jackson and quarterback Peyton Manning talked to the team during the meeting, to emphasize that there was another step to the journey.

“We talked about the things that were positive about it and we talked about how we still want to go a step further,” Manning said. “We had a good healthy meeting and everybody’s on the same page. We did a lot of good things last year and we need to build on those things. You just don’t go out and go a step further because you went that far last year. It’s why did we get that far last year? It’s because we put a lot of hard work in and we had a great offseason and a great training camp.

“We’re off to a start that way as well but we have to go out and do it again and then try to find a way to finish it.”

I suspect this is the last opportunity for Manning to get another SuperBowl ring… ditto for the Broncos because keeping this current team together in addition to paying Peyton his huge bucks isn’t going to be possible without divine intervention.

And if the Broncos do make it back to the SuperBowl again this year, I hope they don’t embarrass themselves the way they did against Seattle, a team with players who obviously wanted that ring a whole lot more than the Broncos did.

I can’t really blame them.
In The NFL being second best or Conference Champ is looked at as first loser.
But in reality, you can’t win the Super Bowl until you win the conference and qualify for the big game.

Mad respect for Manning. Thirty-eight years old and coming off a neck surgery, yet he still finds a way to renew his drive year after year. Legend.

scw1993 says:Jun 11, 2014 12:16 PM

Right now, it’s “we have to go a step further,” “we had a great year,” “we have to build on it,” “we had a great offseason.” But when he wins all those glorious personal stats awards, it’s all about him, no sharing, no props to his “team,” and a huge choke for the big game. This guy’s ego is bigger than the planet, much less the team, he hamstrings the organization with his salary demands, and everyone just soaks it up. smh.

Not throwing as many TDs to the opposition as your offense scores would help too.

If you had told me that we’d witness Manning’s team losing by 35 pts in a SB while sporting the best scoring offense of all time and the main narrative of the off season would be Tom Brady is old and declining and isn’t a top 5 QB anymore, well…I guess I’d believe it.

I get that Manning wants to set the stage to win the Super Bowl. It’s Super Bowl or bust for him. However, it is incredibly conceited to think Denver is going to perform like they did last year again and get back to that game without any hardship. As we know, the last time the loser got back to the game was in the 1993 season and they lost the game. The last time the loser got back to the game and won was 1972 when Miami won and then it only happened once before that when Dallas got back to win in 1971. 2 of 48 is a 4% chance of winning the Super Bowl the year after losing it.

Anything is possible, but it’s certainly not likely that Denver will win it.

I am in no way a Manning fan but not all of the playoff losses were his fault.

somethingsmellsrotten says:Jun 11, 2014 1:04 PM

Might as well wear it MegaHead, because it will be the last ring of any kind you receive.

mrlaloosh says:Jun 11, 2014 1:07 PM

” If you ain’t first, your LAST!”

chargerdillon says:Jun 11, 2014 1:14 PM

I love how people trash a team that put up historic numbers in the NFL last season.

As a Charger fan who doesn’t necessarily like seeing a division rival doing so well, I am equally irritated by the massive amount of trolls who want to blast the Broncos for one bad game in the superbowl.

You’re all going to be very sad when the phenomenon that is Peyton Manning is no longer lighting up scoreboards like only few quarterbacks really can.

Anyone remember the show ‘Oddities’ that aired on MTV in the mid 90’s. I wonder if an alien lives in Peyton’s head.

chalkruz1989 says:Jun 11, 2014 1:28 PM

I didn’t expect to see a lot of hateful messages about this story.

Peyton Manning and his teammates do not feel “blessed” to wear a ring that signifies their shortcoming.

I will never experience such an event in my profession, at least I hope not. But, I can only imagine what it would be like to get so close to being nationally touted as the best in the most dominant sport in the world and being beat handedly.

Best of luck to all teams this year trying to capture the Lombardi Trophy.

Was I the only one who saw the game. Hard to blame Peyton when our O line was crumbling on every play. That combined with our receivers being shut down most of the game. Anyone who knows football knows that the Seattle D won the game.

bobzilla1001 says:Jun 11, 2014 1:39 PM

I bet Peyton had no trouble cashing that Super Bowl check, though.
Pro athletes are hypocrites…

surfinbird1 says:Jun 11, 2014 2:01 PM

Manning also promised to put a Buick sign on his forehead if they cough up enough dough.

The majority of teams who broke multiple offensive records and made history during the regular season lost the Super Bowl (example, last year’s Broncos, ’07 Patriots) or didn’t even make it thru the playoffs (example, ’05 Colts, ’12 Patriots).

It’s a significant accomplishment to win the Conference, and doing so while breaking NFL records.

Manning might not wear that ring, but later he should be proud of what it signifies.

After typing all that, I suddenly realized, “Who the hell am I kidding..?”

weepingjebus says:Jun 11, 2014 2:18 PM

I’m surprised Manning even accepts unmarked boxes from Elway at this point.

Not that I’m a huge fan of Peyton Manning,but I agree with not wearing the ring. It’s a constant reminder of the beatdown they got from the Seahawks.

sleepyowl2006chawkchamps1 says:Jun 11, 2014 3:01 PM

Our Seahawks won a great game against a classy opponent in Peyton Manning.

We have no doubt that just as he Miami Dolphins used their embarrassing loss to the Dallas Cowboys to put together their incredible 17-0 season, the Broncos are going to use loss in the SB to bounce back and this time finish.

However, I expect our Seahawks will be there in Arizona to deny them once again. P.M. made mistakes because our defense caused him to make those mistakes.

That’s all very inspirational and cliche filled talk. I’m sure Tom Jackson was a joy to listen to, as he can totally relate to being absolutely obliterated in the Super Bowl. Newsflash: If you want to do something better, you don’t take advice from the ones that failed, and never succeeded. You look toward people that got it right.

This is all very cute, while the Manning Media Machine goes to work behind the scenes cutting down Tom Brady and creating off season distractions for Manning’s greatest competitor.

That Super Bowl loss was EPIC, and should be tattooed on his forehead. No other QB could endure a loss and a performance that was that bad, and ever live it down, except for media darling Peyton Manning. What if that were Tony Romo? Or Jay Cutler? Or Phillip Rivers? They would still be looking at headlines highlighting their performance and questioning their contract $. With Manning, a few days after the Super Bowl, it disappeared from the media faster than the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We should never forget the incredible buildup and hype surrounding this team and QB, much of it self created, and the stupendous Super Bowl size letdown that game was. Peyton was the MOP in the Super Bowl, MOST OVERRATED PLAYER. What else could it be when you show up for a gun fight looking like you brought a pop gun for an arm?

mrlaloosh says:Jun 11, 2014 4:12 PM

The Minneapolis Super Bowl Committee should get Peyton to lend them his forehead to use as one of those free billboards they had to give the NFL.

weepingjebus says:Jun 11, 2014 4:41 PM

In addition to giving you a huge head, HGH abuse also affects your ability to wear rings.

It’s kind of scary to think about a team as good as the broncos carrying a “must get better” mentality. If they can avoid injuries and avoid being paid large sums of money to blatantly throw the biggest game of the year, they may just win themselves a Superbowl

jpalughi823 says:Jun 11, 2014 10:51 PM

we’re all aware that the broncos got owned during the SB. i would like to know how a guy that just put up 50+ TDs & almost 5500 yards is declining though. i’ll never understand from the idiots that post on here sometimes.